New Owner...97 Ls...wow

[zoomee99]

Just traded wife's Exploder in on a 97 LS...as a lifelong car nut I have to say I'm thrilled to have gotten such a high quality and tech advanced vehicle for what little I paid ($7500..140K miles, perfect inside & out). I've spent the past week going through it very carefully and I'm so impressed with the build quality & design thoughtfulness. I looked at the BMW and Merc...but as an EE I really appreciate simple, elegant design and the restraint they displayed in not feeling like they had to cram every bell & whistle possible in like the Krauts do. All that extra stuff does is break after a few years and cost $$ to fix.

So, I'm now a happy member of the LS club with a couple of questions out of the box...

1) I need to replace the plastic piece that surrounds the shifter, the one with the gates & letters. I've got the replacement piece but need to know how to get it out of the console. Does that faux wood panel pop out?

2) One issue that kept me with the Exploder for so long was I need to tow a small sailboat once or twice a year. Finally I just said, F it, why am I killing myself with this uncomfortable POS just to have a tow vehicle or one or two times a year. So I'll use the Lex to tow a bit...is there a built in plug or adapter for the trailer lights?? No problem with doing the wiring but looking for a shortcut!!!!

Thanks

[tcbted]

Re the wood console, place your shifter into N, gently pry up the wood piece where it meets your cupholder ... I used a flat head screwdriver.

The whole piece pulls backwards from the dash, where it releases from two small clips. Scared me a bit at first, but its very easy.

Post some pics when you get a chance.

[17LexusOwner]

Heres a link to how you take the wood panel up.

It's a tutorial for removing your stereo but the first few are for removing the wood paneling.

http://www.lexls.com/tutorials/audio/headunit.html

[1990LS400]

Heres a link to how you take the wood panel up.

It's a tutorial for removing your stereo but the first few are for removing the wood paneling.

http://www.lexls.com/tutorials/audio/headunit.html

No! Those instructions are for a 90-94 LS. Follow these instructions for a 95-00 LS: http://carstereohelp.com/stereoremovalLexusLS400str1.htm

The 95-00 wood is thinner and much more fragile that the 90-94 wood. It is important to follow the directions exactly on a 95-00 to keep from cracking the wood. I've owned and removed the wood console trim numerious times in both model year ranges while installing various electronic components.

[dfkd]

And oh yes...It's real wood....REAL wood.

If you look on the back side of that panel what you see is...wood.

I know, I know...I was amazed too the first time I took mine out.

It's pretty much a plank of wood with 4 clips attached to it.

Welcome to the world of Lexus.

[pondfisher]

Do all LS400 models regardless of year have the wood console?

[OmarG]

Do all LS400 models regardless of year have the wood console?

yes. All ls400's all the way from 1990 to the 2008 ls460. Genuine wood. :)

[1990LS400]

It's pretty much a plank of wood with 4 clips attached to it.

Well, it may be a "plank of wood with 4 clips" on the 90-94 LS400 but it is a rather thin fragile curved piece of wood with six attachment points on the 95-00 LS400.

A lot of tricks were pulled to keep the total car weight down during the 11 year LS400 model run. Making the console wood thinner as the years passed was one of many ways Toyota reduced weight as content was added and which kept the total vehicle weight nearly constant over the 11 year period.

I used to have a 1990 LS400 and a 2000 LS400 parked side by side in my garage. It was a marvel to see how incredibly different the two cars were.